Movie Reviews

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

I wasn't really in the mood to see this because I've been super disappointed with movies where Will Ferrell is the star. He should just go back to SNL (MORE COWBEL!!).

ANyway, I was pleasantly surprised. Basically the gist of the story is this kid Ricky Bobby who's dad is never around because he's a race car driver, so Ricky Bobby aspires to be the same, makes it to the top, then has an "accident", flops to the bottom, and has to make it to the big leagues again using his own inner strength.

There's a ton of celebrity cameos in this movie, probably the best one where Ricky Bobby and the french guy walk along the french guy's property and Ricky Bobby says : "Was that Mos Def and Elvis Costello?"
Girard "No"
(insert confused look on Ricky BObby's face)....ahhh you'd have to see it to get it.

Anyway, I would have been peeved if I paid $11 to see it in the theater but as a Netflix rental, it was great.

Thank You For Smoking

Now my standards were VERY high for this movie. So...all I can say is...they met my standards. THey didn't exceed them, didn't go below them...they were just right.

The movie is about a dude who's a lobbyist for the cigarette companies, how he's hated, but still provides some very valid points in favor of the cigarette companies.

The opening scene shows the dude on a tv show with anti-cigarette agency people, and the Lobbyist Guy (forgot his name) says that cigarette companies don't WANT their customers to die of cancer because then they're losing customers and money...it's the anti-smoking groups that want Cancer Boy to die so they have another statistic to help their cause. Brilliant.

It's extremely dark, and you'll be forced to see Katie Holmes play a sexy reporter (I'm sorry, but she still looks like a 15 year old kid from Dawson's Creek to me), but overall HIGHLY recommended.